The Writing Prompt Boot Camp

Something’s Wrong With This Wedding

Your best friend from college has invited you to his wedding. You haven’t seen him for years, so you’re excited to catch up. But when you arrive at the wedding, you discover that your best friend’s bride is someone from your past—and you realize you must stop the wedding at all costs.

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358 thoughts on “Something’s Wrong With This Wedding”

Wedding is part of every little girl’s dream. It is often imagined as lovely and romantic. And one of the most anticipated aspect of the event- the cheap plus size beach wedding dresses online! Could it be from Vera Wang, Monique Lhuillier or from a dainty bridal store across the street? Ahhh, a bride is indeed a beautiful sight on her big day. But, wait ’til you see some horrible backless wedding dresses that were actually worn by (crazy) brides. I mean it, they’re horrible..

My breath caught as I stared at Gwen sitting at the end of the table. She still looked the same, even though it had been ten years since I’d last seen her. I smile as another old friend, Hannah, pulls me into an embrace. “How have you been,” she asked cheerfully. I nodded, smiled, but I didn’t reply as I pushed through the crowd, edging my way toward Gwen.
She didn’t seem to notice me as I fished my way through the jovial gathering. Music thumped through the air. Clinks and clangs of glasses touching in toast crackled through the air. I felt as if I were floating as I closed the gap between Gwen and myself. Her eyes catch mine and I can tell that she immediately recognizes me.
“Lydia,” she breathed. Her shock was quickly replaced with bemusement. “What on earth are you doing here,” she asked.
I frowned and grabbed her by the elbow, leading her out into the hallway. “No, Gwen. What are you doing here?”
She smiled coyly and began to wrap my hair around her slender finger. “Well, I’ve fallen in love,” she replied. Her voice still sounded like butter. I shivered and pulled my hair away.
“I’ve known you for nearly a thousand years,” I hissed. “I know you, Gwen. You don’t ‘fall’ in love. You’re a man eater. And Jake is my friend.”
Her eyes flashed with excitement; perhaps even pride. “Why do you think I chose him?”
My body revolted with anger. “I won’t let you hurt him,” I said. My voice was low and dangerous but it didn’t seem to faze her as she gazed back at me.
“I’m not here to hurt him,” Gwen replied, sidling up to me. She ran her hand down my bare arm and positioned herself behind me. Her breath tickled at the back of my neck. “I’m not a monster, you know. I was a woman. Once. I still feel the prick of need, Lydia. Just like you.”
I felt my face flush. It was true that my humanity had managed to stay intact for the most part. It was the other part of me that I knew I couldn’t allow Gwen to marry Jake. That part was ugly and dead . And Gwen and I were the same in that regard. “You can’t do this,” I said again. “He’s mortal. What are you going to say when he’s aging and you stay as you are?”
She grinned at me. I felt an immense fear grip me. “I’m going to turn him,” she said coyly.
I couldn’t believe what I had just heard. In a rush of panic and resolve, I grabbed a leg from the cherry oak table behind her, ripped it from the base and plunged it into her cold, dead skin. She screamed. Her eyes widened. She suddenly fell to the ground, her beautiful hourglass body melting into a pile of oozing flesh and blood.
The guests of the engagement party suddenly caught my attention. I sighed and dropped the makeshift stake to the ground. “She wore white after Labor Day. What else was I supposed to do?”

I can’t tell you my name. It’s too dangerous. Call me “X” instead.
I’ve been in the extraterrestrial business for fourteen years now, but you didn’t hear that from me. We’ve seen a few good men here in the Gents, and lost a few more. Q was one of the best, but he was retired after a close call. A close call that almost kicked his bucket, if you catch my meaning. He survived, but without legs, he wasn’t much good chasing down Eetees. He says it’s been pretty slow ever since, but now he’s found a little lady that doesn’t mind his limb deficiency. They’re due to get married in a week, or at least that’s what last week’s ciph said. He said he wants me to go. Unfortunately for him, Gents aren’t allowed to have days off. Eetees don’t have days off. Neither do we. I do miss that son of a gun, though. I’ve known him damn near half my life, ever since the Academy.
I’ve been working on this case for a while. The Eetee is a slippery one, and always manages to disappear on me. It’s been floating around this little town in Nevada for the longest time, but fades off the radar whenever we get close. Not today. I can see that little bugger clear as day on my scanner and I’m taking it down.
It’s been staying close to the perimeters of the town. We see that a lot. Eetee live close outside town or in the sewer and picks off people that won’t be missed. Happens all the time. Newbies get to clean up the feeding sites. I hated being a newbie. What’s niggling me is the fact that the damn Eetee’s signal is coming from center-town. I get in close, and I can see there’s a ton of people. They’re not screaming, though. Weird.
There’s a sign up ahead. Let me see if I can get my Signolector working. Good. It’s got a read: “Q and Sheila’s Wedding.”
Q? Q’s wedding is here? Well, I’ll be damned.
I find the crip pretty fast. Not a lot of these townies have electric wheelchairs. And man, is the smile of the poor guys face wide.
We chat, catch up a bit, but I’m getting anxious. That Eetee is out there somewhere.
“And X, you wouldn’t believe how much she wants to,” he gestures obscenely. That was the weird thing about Q. Obscene gestures instead of words. “I’ll just be sitting there, and all of a sudden she’s on me, ready to go!” Distracted, I wander off, following the signal. I get close, and it fades. Not this time!
I blast through the nearest set of doors and there is bride. She’s, uh… mid-copulation with a fellow.
It all clicks. The Eetee. When it attaches itself to a human, it doesn’t register. That means the bride is… damn.
She snarls, but before she can eviscerate me, someone runs past screaming.
Apparently, Q just got ripped open from the inside by a bunch of little squid babies.
Poor Q.

“I couldn’t wait to see john I haven’t seen him since college. We were always together partying hardly studying and scamming on girls. Those were the good ole days. I really missed having him around; I guess I fell out of touch when this girl that I really started to like dumped me after college.”
“Tell me what Happened”
“After college john and I got an apartment together in the city, it was a nice little setup it had a warehouse feel our bedrooms were on opposite sides of the apartment so we wouldn’t hear when the other had company if you know what I mean .” he chuckled a little
“I met this girl her name was Jessica, I loved her so much she was my first true love but something strange was going on between her and John. I would come home and she would be there with him, at first I thought it was great that my best friend and my girlfriend were getting along it seemed like the perfect setup. But something weird happened one day when I came home from work. I walked in and Jessica was sitting on the couch in her robe, and John was standing in the kitchen with no shirt on. They tried to explain to me that nothing was going on that John just wanted a beer to take to his room and didn’t know she was there I shrugged it off because Jessica spent a lot of time at my place.”
“Um hmm tell me more”
“Things were great after that, Jessica and I were going strong, John even went out with me when I purchased an engagement ring for her, our friendship was even closer than it was before. He even helped me pick a place and helped me rehearse how to propose. On the night I was going to propose I called Jessica to ask her to meet me and she never picked up. I went home and John was gone so I waited and kept calling Jessica, after not getting an answer I decided to text her that I had a surprise for her and for her to meet me at my place. She never showed. The next morning I heard John moving around the apartment, I just figured he was late for work so I didn’t bother him with my girl problems. That night when I got home I went to his room to talk to him about what happened with Jessica to find out why she never returned my calls because I was getting worried. I spilled everything I even cried a little, he became angry that she had hurt me and he vowed that it was bro’s before hoes”
“Then what happened”
“After about a month I just figured she didn’t want to be with me anymore and I got over it, I checked her professional site and she was still active so she wasn’t a missing person she just didn’t have the balls to break up with me to my face. Later that month John was offered a position as a manger of a branch in New York so he moved out of the apartment and I decided to move out also it just had too many memories.”
“What happened at the wedding?”
“I walked up to the church and saw John standing in the hallway waiting for the pastor to call him out. It was just like old times, we hugged and reminisced he introduced me to his best man, he was the brides brother and he explained that he had two kids with the bride, I congratulated him and it was a good time.”
“What happened when the bride came out?”
“My heart dropped and I began to panic, my heart was racing and I couldn’t breathe I couldn’t believe it was her; that they had children together. I loved her and he stole her from me and had the audacity to invite me to the wedding knowing how much I loved her. I mean I thought I was over it I mean it had been 3 years since I seen John. But Jessica ripped my heart out, I wanted answers. At the reception I stayed cool and when they approached me everything went black”
“What happened then?”
“There was a flash of red lights I heard sirens, when I looked down there was a gun in my hand.”
“What happened then?”
“I ended up here talking to you.”
“I see” he motioned for the guard “Well, that’s all for today.” The guy in the suit got up and walked past the guard as I sat there in my orange jumpsuit still confused about what happened at the wedding.

I was excited about Xavier’s wedding. I mean, it has been 5 years since we have graduated from Clark Atlanta. Its actually sort of funny how the dinamics of our relationship has changed over the years. We started as best friends our Freshman year and then we dated off and on throughout the remainder of our college years. We lost contact with eachother shortly after graduation. I moved to Japan and Xa moved back home to Texas. I have to admitt that I felt some sort of way about his engagement. Ive never met his “fiance” so this should be interesting.

The day of the wedding was finally upon me. I secretly found myself wishing that it was MY wedding day and not whomever this stranger is that Xavier is about to marry. Even though this wasnt my wedding, I still dressed as if I was the main attraction. Hum. “I look damn good.” I said to myself. The church was beautifully decorated with a variety of Island colors. Wow …she has nice taste but I couldve done better.
The bride maids walked down the isle to Kc and JoJo “All My Life.” Their dresses were made of silk and they were dark red. All of a sudden all the music stopped and the back doors of the church opened. I still couldnt see her from where i was sitting. As she moved slowly down the isle and made her way next to me, my heart dropped as I saw her face. “Oh My God!” I said outloud. The lady sitting next to me looked at me and said ,”are you ok?” “Im fine. Thanks for asking.” I said in a hurried tone.
I cant believe it! Could this be Shannon? The Shannon who use to strip with me on the weekends and whose boyfriend was also our pimp? What was Xavier doing with her? Where did he find her or better yet, where did she find him? It was as if my past was slapping me in the face! I have to stop this wedding! The last I heard, she was still being pimped and stripping. I wanted to stand up and shout it to the mountain tops that this girl is no good but my legs wouldnt allow me to move at all.
Do something Essie! I thought to myself. Just as I was about to stand up and walk out, I felt a tap on my shoulder and it was him. Johnny. Our pimp. “Well hello Essie.” “What are you doing here?” I asked in a low tone. “Did you think I would miss my little brother’s wedding?” he said with a devilish grinn.

I hadn’t seen Cedric since that faithful summer afternoon our senior year in college when I had caught him cheating with the school slut Mindy Hawks and had dumped him in a heartbeat. Five years had passed and two of them had been spent grieving our lost love, but now I was back and better than ever. In fact, I couldn’t have dreamt of a better life; I was a succesful writer in a trendy fashion magazine and had a steady relationship with my eight-month oh-so-romantic boyfriend, Danny Walters.

Of course, the invitation had still come as a shock. During my depression, my therapist had told me it would probably best for me if I never encountered Cedric again. But I was intrigued; who was the bride? He hadn’t bothered to tell me when he had called to invite me and I had been so stunned I hadn’t thought of asking. But now, as I stepped out of the yellow cab onto a calm New York suburban street, I wondered.

I was right on time, but for some reason all the other guests were already there…and they weren’t wearing white. Strange. Cedric had specifically instructed me to wear white…Bouquet of white lillies in hand, I walked discreetly into the church. All heads turned to me, I blushed furiously, sure to be interupting. Then, a beautiful hymn started playing and realized everyone thought I was the bride. Oops…

I turned to Cedric, who was waiting at the altar, sure that he was going to tell the guests it was a mistake, that I was just an old aquaintance. But he didn’t, instead he signaled to a man in the crowd who got up. As he approached me, I recognized my dad. What was he doing here? Then I got it; I was the bride! Just as my dad reached for my arm, I turned and ran; away from Cedric, away from my father, away from my past.

I barely got off the train when the doors closed, leaving me alone on the platform. The warm Midwest breeze blew through my hair. It’s been three years since I saw him, and I remember well how much he liked running his fingers through my hair. The effect was perfect; I could see it on his face as he came up the stairs.

“You look beautiful, Sam,” he said smiling. “Still no boyfriend?”

The words stung. Our breakup was not easy. I moved on, though it hurt, but I hadn’t heard from him since that October night, three years back.

Then came the invitation. I don’t know why I came. I don’t even know why I replied. I guess I felt I owed it to Jack, all that I had put him through. I wish I could blame it youth. “I was young.” No, I wasn’t. I knew what I was doing.

The drive to the hall took longer than I expected. His car was as it always was, two pay grades higher than he could afford. We chatted about old times, the good times, the breakup.

“It was quite sudden. You never gave me any warning.”

“I know, I am sorry.”

It was too many years ago, I couldn’t go through the motions again.

“I am so happy you invited me. What does Terri do?”

“She’s great. She works in a pre-school. She loves children. And she’s gorgeous.”

It all felt odd. Scripted almost. Throughout the ride there he kept on telling me how pretty she was. And I don’t really remember him being much of a children person.

We pulled up in front of the hall. It appears he was running late.

Terri came up to us, but we needed no introduction. She was as beautiful as he said. She was also a terror from my past.

I smirked. I tried to get out a true smile, for Jack. He was looking at me, trying to smile. No, he was just looking at me. I remember that look.

It started to make sense.

Deep down, really deep down I had a hatred for her, for how she tormented me throughout High School. But I couldn’t let him do this to her. I couldn’t let him marry her just to could hurt me.

It is late monday and most everyone has said everything that they want to say. The new post comes out tuesday morning so you will see fresh comments starting tomorrow afternoon.

I like your story and the twist too. You did a good job of describing the scene but it seemed to me that it needed something else. Maybe some introspection on Bill’s part about the failed marriage, Some reasoning why they never offically divorced and something about how he missed her or even hated her. For me that would really clinch the prompt. Nice job and I look forward to future posts.

“Another freakin’ wedding,” you mumbled to yourself as you adjusted the bowtie on your tuxedo. This wedding was the fifth of a serious marriage virus that had been contagiously passed amongst your friends in the last four years, thankfully skipping you. First it was James, then Kevin, then Cory, then Alex, and now it was Jimmy. For each one of these weddings you had been asked to be the Best Man. The first time you were thrilled, but after that, you realized being the Best Man was more of an act of servitude rather than an honor.
You hadn’t seen Jimmy in years, ten years in fact since you were both hovering over barstools and cramming for your exams in college. After graduation you both went your separate ways. You decided to work for the government and Jimmy decided to get into banking. Every now and again you kept touch thanks to social media forums. So it was a surprise to you when you received a call from Jimmy asking you to be his best man. It was a surprise to him too, since the original best man Jimmy chose was going through a divorce and was in no way emotionally prepared to participate in anything related to love or marriage.
It wasn’t until yesterday that you saw Jimmy’s bride to be. Her name was Judith Slate. At least that’s the name she called herself. You knew her as the Widow. She was called the Widow for her habit of marrying high profile men then stealing their information, selling it, and then making the murder look like an accident. So far your organization hadn’t collected enough evidence to take her in, but you knew it was only a matter of time. After two other well-to-do unfortunate husbands, you knew it was no coincidence that she had selected Jimmy as her next victim. Jimmy was into international banking, and he was really good at it too. In these times of financial uncertainty and crisis, who knows what lucrative information he had that might be worth stealing.
The Widow of course never told Jimmy about her other two happy marriages and their unhappy endings. As far as Jimmy knew their accidental rendezvous at an airport in London was completely by chance, and their love affair and marriage was fate. Jimmy would never believe me if I told him that he was the next victim in a series of ill-fated husbands. Some would call it unwise, others rash, and most definitely cold, but I had to do it – I had to save my best friend’s life. With a little hand trick, I was able to put an undetectable poison in the Widow’s drink. To most, it would look like a tragic case of food poisoning. She would be dead in a week. Jimmy would be devastated, but at least he wouldn’t be dead, and he would never know how close he came to knocking on death’s door.

Bill stepped back and gave his friend a head-to-toe once-over. “Groom doesn’t look half bad either,” he chucked. “Look, you finish getting ready and I’ll go find a seat. I can meet Mrs. Jerry Carter at the reception.”

It was a small church, but a seat had been saved for Bill near the front. As he waited for the service to began, he remembered the last wedding he had attended—his own. Bill hoped Jerry’s marriage would be better than his had been. People tended to forget that weddings and marriages were not one and the same. Under the circumstances, it was just as well Jerry had missed his.

Movement caught Bill’s eye. Rev. Wilson, Jerry, and the best man entered from a side door. The music changed. A little girl about four-years-old came down the aisle tossing flower petals. Behind her, a boy about the same age carried a pillow which held two golden wedding bands. The maid of honor followed.

Just as the maid of honor reached the altar, the organist switched to the wedding march. Everyone in the church stood and turned to watch the bride as she made her way to her waiting groom.
Bill couldn’t believe his eyes. She was just as beautiful as Jerry had said.

The bride was two pews from Bill when she saw him. Their eyes met and, with a sharp in-take of breath, she stopped. Bill stepped into the aisle, blocking her path. Without a word, she turned and walked back toward the vestibule. Bill followed.

Before she got outside, Bill grabbed her arm and swung her around to face him. Jerry was right on their heels.

“Who would believe that the biggest playboy in college would get married?”

“I know!” Shelly laughs.

In unbelief, Dylan takes his cell phone out.

“Who are you calling?” Shelly questions

“Dax—just to make sure this isn’t one of those college days’ pranks he used to play on us.”

“Oh, good one.” Shelly agrees.

Like Shelly, Dylan’s jaw drops as he flips his phone closed.

“Well?”

“It’s true! He even sounds “twitter-paited.”

The wedding date arrives. The couple goes early, strolling up the hedge-lined walkway—all of a sudden they hear, “Psssst.”

Puzzled, they search for the sound, which seems to be coming from the hedges. Shelly opens them to find a blond-haired, blue-eyed beauty with nothing on but her slip and rope around her hands and feet.

“What are you doing in these hedges?” Shelly asks.

With tear-stained cheeks, she exclaims, “I’m supposed to be getting married today.”

“Why are you in these hedges then?” Dylan wonders.

She sobs, “My identical twin, Darla, wants Dax for herself. She ambused me and tied me to these hedges. She plans on marrying him, playing to be me.”

“You’re Anna?” Shelly shrieks.

“Yes,” She cries. “The wedding must be stopped. Can you help me?”

“Of course!” Shelly soothes as she thrusts herself into the hedges, with Dylan not far behind.

Anna explains her abduction while they untie her. Huddled in the hedges, the three hatch a plan to stop the doppelganger wedding.

Sneaking into the building, they see Darla fully dressed—ready to masquerade as Anna.

Almost as if it is second nature, the couple seizes Darla; tie her up and secure her to some nearby bushes, while Anna throws on her wedding apparel.

Dylan pants, “The days of abducting each other back in college finally pays off.”

Shelly grunts, “We stopped the doppelganger wedding—what about the one Dax really wants?”

“It will go on without a hitch.” Anna proclaims while plucking a twig out of her hair.

During the reception, Dax finds Shelly and Dylan—with Anna in hand. “I want you to meet my Anna.” he proudly proclaims.

They exhange sly looks.

“I want you to get to know her. She is so sweet, unlike her twin sister. Man, that girl is a beast—glad she didn’t show up today. I guess my stern warning scared her off.” Dax beams.

“Sounds like your threat diverted a doppelganger wedding.” Dylan squeaks as an elbow jabs his ribs.

Nice twist to the story. Great use of dialogue. My only critiques is that I felt the story didn’t flow right transitioning from the beginning dialogue to the actual wedding day. I felt like something was missing.

The tuxedo fit around my shoulders too snugly, so much that I didn’t think I’d be able to raise my glass when that sack of shit Levi would give his best man speech. The bowtie might as well have been made from paper mache and the pants warned of a flood, which seemed unlikely in Las Vegas.

So other than being physically uncomfortable, I was peachy with accepting Bryce’s invitation to be a groomsman in his wedding.

Was. I hadn’t met the future missus until I caught the glimpse of straight black hair and a firm body slithering its way into an extravagant snow white gown, courtesy of the corsage cam I planted last night. I recognized the body. I knew it well.

“Listen to me, B,” I said. “You can’t marry her.”

We were in the restroom of one of the banquet halls of one of the hotels that I didn’t care to remember the name of.

He situated his paper mache and laughed. “That’s just like you, bro.”

“Bryce,” I said.

“You don’t even know her, man. She—“ He dropped the flimsy bowtie and turned from the mirror toward me. “Dude, you didn’t.”

“Well, yeah,” I waved a hand in the air. “But that’s not the point. She—“

When Bryce would get agitated, he acted like a schoolgirl. He was acting like a schoolgirl. “Dude! What the fuck?”

I grabbed him by the shoulders. His tuxedo fit better than mine, but he was the groom. “Listen. I know her. I know her.”

The tears that welled in his eyes froze. “You don’t mean—“

“Yeah.”

“Gertrude is MI-fucking-6?”

“Was,” I said.

The mirror shattered behind Bryce. Fitting, considering Bryce’s potential luck. I grabbed him by the nape of the neck, pulled him to the ground and lifted the hem of my flood pants. I pulled my Sig Sauer.

“Stay down,” I said to the groom, whose tears leaked like a faucet.

I backed next to the door of the restroom and loosened the top button of my shirt. “Betts?

She replied with two shots through the door and one above my head.

“Play nice,” I said. “This is supposed to be the happiest day of your life.”

I waited. Bryce sniffled. Long seconds passed.

“Listen,” I said. “I’ll come out. Don’t shoot.”

Silence.

“I flushed.” I winked toward Bryce and turned the doorknob and opened the poor door a foot. “Blue on blue, babe.”

Silence.

I asked Bryce if he was OK. He sobbed. I acknowledged. I slowly pushed the door open with my as-much-as-can-be-extended arm. I switched firing hand and showed my gun to the banquet hall.

“Coming out.”

She was beautiful, even with the pistol extended and pointed at my forehead. Maybe more.

I held up my hands, one holding the Sig. “Talk?”

She smiled, and I lunged left. Her shot put another hole through the bathroom door. My shot shattered her sternum and pierced her heart.

It had been 5 years since if seen Tony as he finally took the plunge. I never thought he would but when you meet the right one you know it. That’s how it was for me and Alexis.
Oh how I missed being with her. She was the love of my life, my soulmate, my partner, my lover, and my friend. It was when the car bomb exploded that fateful day when everything changed.
I was the one that was supposed to go to the grocery store that day but I had been sick the whole week I could barely stand on my own two feet. When I recieved the news I was just devasated it was me that was supposed to be in that car not her. NOT HER! This was my chosen profession though people get killed it’s the way it goes. It wasn’t until later on when I used the guest bathroom on the bottom floor of our house that I found out what really was going on.
I just stared at the mirror for a moment as I tried to dry my eyes as best I can. I had a job to do as I pulled out my Beretta to check that the safety was on I was hoping I didn’t want to fire off a shot accidently.
I went ahead and took my sit in one of the back pews of the church I was pretty sure no one even really noticed me. I sat down as I waited for the bride to make her way to the alter. I waited for my cue to object.
My suspicions were right as Tony lifted the veil off of Alexis’s head and I sprang into action.
“Hold it right there this is U.S. Marshall John Willingham you are both under arrest for the attemtpted murder of a Federal Agent” The both of them along with the guests put thier hands up as several other federal agents busted into the church. I made my way to Tony and Alexis as the both of them were being hand cuffed.
“So how did you figure it out?” Alexis looked almost relieved as the cuffs were being placed around her wrists.
“The guest bathroom were I found a small bottle of arsenic in the medicine chest. That was when I started putting two and two together.” I waited for her to respond.
“Yeah, I really screwed up, I just couldn’t kill you, I loved you too much.” Tears started forming in her eyes.
“I know you do Alexis, I know.” I allowed for the other officer to take her away as I stood and watched.
I reholstered my gun as I left the church.